REPORT (2020) ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

REPORT BY THE CHAIRPERSON

1.1.  The present report is being circulated by the Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture on her own responsibility. This report provides a summary of the activities of the Committee on Agriculture ("the Committee") during 2020.

1.2.  The Committee organized three formal meetings in 2020 on 28 July^[1], 22-23 September, and 30 November - 1 December.^[2] Two informal meetings of the Committee were held respectively on 21 September and 30 November. Ms. Christiane Daleiden Distefano of Luxemburg chaired the Committee's June special meeting and the July formal meeting. The Committee elected Ms. Maria Araceli Escandor of the Philippines as the new Chairperson for 2020‑2021 beginning with the September meeting.

1.3.  In accordance with Article 18.1 of the Agreement on Agriculture ("the Agreement"), at each of its meetings, the Committee reviewed progress in the implementation of Members' commitments. This review process is undertaken based on notifications submitted by Members in the areas of market access, domestic support, export competition, export prohibitions and restrictions as well as under the follow-up to the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision on NFIDCs. Between 1 January and 2  December 2020, 338 agriculture notifications were circulated.

1.4.  In 2020, Members posed 255 questions in connection with 133 specific notifications during the Committee's review process. These questions were distributed as follows: 71% related to domestic support issues, 21% to market access, 4% to export competition, 3% to export restrictions and prohibitions, and the remaining questions related to the NFIDC Decision.^[3] Specific concerns were also raised regarding outstanding notifications that some Members had yet to submit to the Committee.

1.5.  Members also raised a wide range of matters relevant to the implementation of commitments, independently of notifications, under Article 18.6 of the Agreement. A total of 297 questions on 116 specific implementation matters (SIMs) were raised by 18 Members during 2020. Out of these, 87 SIMs were discussed for the first time in 2020. The remaining matters were discussed on one or more occasions in previous years; three of these SIMs have been brought up in more than 10 CoA meetings and attracting between 27 and 63 questions in total.

1.6.  Since 2018, at the request of the Chair, the Secretariat has been monitoring the number of outstanding responses under the CoA review process.^[4] A gradual reduction in the number of outstanding responses has been observed since this exercise started. As of the 30 November‑1 December Committee meeting, 82 responses were pending for questions raised during 2013‑2018 and 35 for questions raised in 2019. The successive Chairs encouraged Members to continue their efforts to reduce outstanding responses to enhance the efficacy of the Committee's monitoring functions.